Buyukada

Buyukada, the Greek Prinkipo, is the largest and most beautiful of the Princes' Isles. This is the only one of the islands that most people visit and it is the summer resort par excellence.

With an area of 5.4 square kilometers, Büyükada is larger than the other three major islands combined. It is also the most populous of the islands, with about 6,500 residents year-round and some 40,000 in the summer.

The island is about 4.3 kilometers long from north to south and averages about 1.3 kilometers in width from east to west. It has two lofty hills: Isa (Hristos or Christ) Tepesi, to the north, rising to a height of 164 meters, and to the south Yüce Tepe (Great Hill), known to the Greeks as Hagios Georgios (St. George), with an elevation of 202 meters, the highest peak in the Princes' Isles. The two hills are separated in the middle of the island by a broad valley, known to the Greeks as Diaskelo. The northernmost part of the island is now completely built up, but farther south are lovely pine groves and other forests, wild cliffs plunging into the sea, and isolated sandy coves.

The island is rich in historical buildings. The earliest of these concern the palace built in 569 by Justin Il (r. 565-78), nephew and successor of Justinian (r. 527-65). According to the chronicler Kedrenos, Justin had a "farm estate" on the island, on which he built his palace and probably also a monastery. The name of the monastery is unknown, although it is believed to be the convent where several empresses of Byzantium and at least one emperor were confined during their periods of exile.

The palace and convent are believed to have been on the northeastern shore of the island in the district now known as Maden, or the "Mine," so called because of the iron mine that was worked there in the mid-nineteenth century. The archaeological evidence to support this includes a capital bearing a monogram with the name of the empress Sophia, wife of Justin ll. Another capital with a monogram giving the name of the emperor himself was found in the present church of St. Dimitrios in the village of Büyükada.